Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Sudan and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Schoolly D to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Lou Reed. All the underground hits.
All Isaac Hayes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amazonics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Searchers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sexual Harrassment,
James White and The Blacks,
Au Pairs,
Aswad,
Scratch Acid,
Flash Fearless,
Second Layer,
Terry Callier,
The Move,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Newcleus,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Crash Course in Science,
Black Sheep,
The Index,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Gun Club,
Siglo XX,
The Angels of Light,
Avey Tare,
Dennis Brown,
Q65,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Saints,
Sight & Sound,
Sun City Girls,
New Order,
EPMD,
Skriet,
Sugar Minott,
Kenny Larkin,
Aural Exciters,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Pulsallama,
Kayak,
Pole,
Roxy Music,
Kurtis Blow,
Man Eating Sloth,
a-ha,
Pere Ubu,
Babytalk,
The Beau Brummels,
The Last Poets,
Panda Bear,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Matthew Bourne,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Nation of Ulysses,
Mantronix,
Darondo,
Derrick May,
Eurythmics,
The Gories,
The Slackers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Selecter,
Buzzcocks,
Aloha Tigers,
Rosa Yemen,
Technova,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.